WAMC + School list help (3.55 cGPA, 3.68 sGPA, 515 MCAT)

[LeatherBeans]

Hey everyone! I’m graduating this year and planning to do a gap year while applying to schools. I’d greatly appreciate any and all input on my app and school list- I’m always looking for ways to improve.

1. 3.55 cGPA, 3.68 sGPA (Upward trend - 3.9 last two years in upper level sciences)
2. 515 (130/128/128/129)
3. MA resident
4. White male
5. MA state school
6. Clinical experience:

• Non-volunteer (but unpaid): Worked in a clinical neurology lab at a major hospital downtown, ~300 hours over last summer as an intern. Starting there in the fall as a coordinator for a year. Did both research and hands on patient interaction stuff (vitals, shadowing and just general interaction with patients and families)
• Volunteer: ~150 hours at a regional hospital over two summers, developed great relationships with everyone there and got tons of patient interaction

1. Research experience and productivity:

• 1000+ hours across 3 labs total including the summer neurology lab:
• ~ 200 hours at a psychology lab freshman year
• ~ 500 hours over two years at a neuroscience lab
• ~ 300 hours in clinical research, will be doing way more when I start as a coordinator
• No publications at the moment but I know of 3 that are in the works that I will be mid author on

1. Shadowing experience and specialties represented

• ~50 hours split between neurologist and gastroenterologist

1. Non-clinical volunteering

• ~50 hours at a soup kitchen, planning to do more this summer (aiming for 50 more this summer depending on how things play out with covid)

1. Other extracurricular activities:

• Biochem TA 1 semester
• Vice president then president of science club
• Lots of hobbies: Music, graphic design, hiking, electronics projects (arduino n stuff)

1. Relevant honors or awards

• Dean’s list 2 years

1. Anything else not listed you think might be important

• I transferred after freshman year so my first two years were rough (~3.2 GPA), decided on med school going into junior year. I think I really matured and completely changed my study habits/work ethic
• I’ve worked at an event planning company for children’s parties for two summers- tons to talk about with this, it was a really great experience
• I also occasionally cater at our town’s temple
• Can likely get ~5 solid LORs from science, nonscience, volunteering coordinator, PI/ mentor at school lab, and PI at clinical (MD/PhD)

School list:

• UMass
• BU
• Tufts
• Vermont
• UConn
• Stony Brook
• Quinnipiac
• Dartmouth
• Brown
• NY medical college
• Hosftra
• Einstein
• SUNY upstate
• Georgetown
• George Washington
• University of Colorado
• Tulane
• Temple
• Minnesota

(Planning to add way more schools based on feedback from y’all, this is just my ideal list so far. Definitely wanna take the broad application approach. I’d like to add a few CA schools but not sure if I’m competitive for out of state)

I’m mostly worried about my GPA, which has been weighing me down for so long despite doing well in my junior and senior year. It’s really frustrating knowing that every A I get now seems to make such a small difference. Also planning to get more non-clinical volunteering hours as I know they’re currently low. Shadowing is sort of tied into the coordinator job so I’ll be accumulating lots of those hours as well.

Thanks so much for your help!

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[Faha]

Minnesota and SUNY Upstate accept few applicants with no connection to the state or region. You should receive several interviews from the other schools on your list. You could add these schools:
Rochester
Pittsburgh
Drexel
Jefferson
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
NOVA MD
USF Morsani
Miami
TCU-UNT
California University
Kaiser

 

[LeatherBeans]

Thanks for your reply! I'll definitely add those to the list.